Contested Sky
by Demo ODST
Summary: It's been two years since Ledo's confrontation with Stryker, and Ledo's life has fallen into a comfortable and regular routine, until life takes a sudden and violent turn, a new threat beginning to emerge. but with a new threat, comes new allies, the real question being, can they defend their home against the odds they face?
1. Prologue

**this is both a rough prologue and a test, yall let me know if this story sounds interesting to you, and PS, it would be prudent to watch the show before reading this. will make more since, although i will try my best to better introduce characters and so on later. and if it does sound interesting, gimme a shout. and maybe some ideas. altough i already do have a rough plot.**

* * *

Ledo wiped sweat away from his brow as he paused for a second, a wrench still firmly in his hand from where he was finishing off a minor repair on his yumboro. He had been exploring a ruined undersea structure when an agitated whale squid had forced him to take a less stable route into the structure, a section of debris having fallen on his unit. The damage had been minor, but caused a leak, forcing him to return to the surface.

"Ledo! Are you finished yet? Bevel wanted to get food with us tonight!" Ledo looked down to the smaller girl and smiled. Not much had changed about Amy, as her name was, over the almost two years he had known the energetic girl, down to even her outfit. She kept her brown hair cut short, less likely to get caught on something as she ran about the fleet delivering packages. That, mixed with her short brown shorts and tube top helped keep her a little more comfortable, as well as her colorful orange shawl to help keep the sun off of her.

"Just need to tighten a few more bolts. I will be done in a minute!" it was still strange to him to be speaking their language, even after over two years of learning and speaking it. he knew she was likely about to say something when the room was rocked, Ledo barely managing to not fall off the scaffolding, deep resounding booms echoing through the chamber. An alarm rang for several seconds before one of the inter com operators spoke.

"We're under attack! All able hands, man the defenses! All non-combat personnel, seek shelter immediately!" Ledo quickly leapt off the scaffolding, grabbing the small leather holster containing his old pistol. The electro magnetic beam weapon was starting to run low on power, given it had been used off and on for nearly two years without a proper charging unit, but he had managed to keep it running.

"Amy, stay here, okay?" she nodded, fear clearly evident on her face. His heart ached at seeing that, wanting nothing more than to stay and comfort her. But he knew that defending the fleet was far more important right now. it didn't take him long at all to reach the exterior of the salvage ship he was on, seeing smoke billowing from one of the residential ships, as well as one of the defense ships. The defense ship was listing severally to one side, clearing beginning to sink from a single hit. "What's happening!" one of the ship's security glanced up at his shout, likely instantly recognizing him.

"We don't know! RADAR barely got the shot direction, coming from the sunset, unknown distance!" With Ledo's knowledge of more advanced technology, he had been able to help them upgrade their defense's, their defense ships now having RADAR systems capable of detecting objects as small as naval gun shells, but the range on the system was limited to a few miles from each ship.

"Sighting! Fifteen thousand meters, off to port!" before something else could be said, there was a short and sudden screech, followed by and incredible bang, the deck beneath him heaving, despite being locked to the main fleet. He was flung off his feet, his ears ringing so loudly that he couldn't hear the panicked shouts of those around him. he stumbled to his feet, completely disoriented, partially because he had been thrown from the upper deck onto a life boat. He barely managed to climb back up the ladder, stumbling back onto the deck as the ship continued to heave and rock beneath him, despite being securely moored to Gargantia. Half the deck was on fire, blocking the massive hole that now nearly cleaved the ship in half, tearing into the hull underneath on the ship beside it.

"Amy!" he started to rush toward the nearest hatch when a sound in his ears stopped him in his tracks. At first, he thought it was another round incoming, but when his eyes located the source, he was shocked to see a white streak above him, heading toward the sun. the shape at the head of the streak was like nothing he had ever seen before, the screeching sound fading as it moved further away. a smaller streak ripped away from it, a faint explosion appearing on the horizon. As soon as he saw that, he shoved the strange craft out of his mind, rushing back to the hold. It didn't take him long to reach there, seeing the yumboro across the room from where it had been, scattered pieces littering the room. Amy's still form amongst the debris. He was instantly panicking, rushing to her and checking her for a pulse. He quickly found one, a very small trickle of blood leaking from the side of her head. he breathed a sigh of relief as he gently shook her, just hoping she would wake up. The only reaction he got was a small moan, but it was enough for him, easily hoisting her light frame over his shoulder and rushing for the far exit, knowing it lead to the interlock to the next ship. just outside the door was a flurry of activity as people were rushing to get of the ship, one woman balancing on a rail to keep from falling as she shouted over the crowd, trying to keep them calm.

"Bellos!" Ledo shouted the woman's name at the top of his lungs, the woman looking up and her dark skin instantly paling.

"Ledo!" she leapt off the railing at her own shout, managing to shove through the crowd to reach him. "Are you two alright?!"

"Amy's unconscious, I need to go back and look for any others!" Bellos went wide eyed at his shout, near instantly shouting back.

"The hell you are! You both need a doctor!" only now did Ledo look at himself. His clothing was blackened and in tatters, several spots slowing beginning to stain red, at least one chunk of metal sticking from his arm. "Come on, we need to move, this ship is about to be ejected!" he nodded and followed her, glancing back at the ship as they crossed the gantry between it and the next. He was shocked to see the ship split completely in half. Just then, another of the flying objects streaked over, trailing flames just before slamming into the Gargantia, another quickly ripping by behind it. _What the hell is going on!?_


	2. Splashed

**And here goes the start of this story, finally. i myself, am very curious exactly where i'm going to be taking this, cause even i dont know. i have ideas, and that's about it. hope yall enjoy!**

* * *

"This is Razor 1-4, callsign Tiger, still got nothing on the scope, ready to move on to the next sector, how copy tower?" the pilot's own voice was muffled to himself, as he scanned the near unending ocean from thousands of feet in the air. The only break in the waves was a massive fleet of interconnected ships, almost a dozen miles away. it was a rusted hodgepodge of ships, several permanently fused together to form floating farmland and residential housing. It was one of many fleets like it, used literally as a trading hub and floating city.

"Uh wait one Tiger. Sat scans got something about fifteen clicks off a civilian fleet. You should be able to see that fleet from your location, move and investigate, weapons hot. How copy?" the radio could barely be heard over the roar of the turbines shoving the rebuilt F18 super hornet through the sky.

"Solid copy, en route tower." He gently tilted his aircraft, a slight pressure on one of his pedals and lightly pulling back on his control yoke putting the fighter into a gentle banking turn. As soon as his nose was pointed over the fleet in the distance, he gently leveled out, so smoothly and expertly that one would have not even realized the craft had turned. He couldn't help a small smile that crossed his face, absolutely loving flying. He had only been a pilot for a few months, but he already knew he wanted to fly for the rest of his life.

"Tiger, this is Tower, shots fired, say again, shots fired!" as they spoke through the radio. He could see a pair of white streaks ripping across the water, so faint and fast that he could barely see them before they struck the fleet, nearly tearing a cruiser in half, the other slamming into a residential ship still securely moored to the fleet.

"Tower, enemy combatants are equipped with railguns, say again, enemy combatants are equipped with rail guns, at least two surface ships, moving to engage!" he slammed his throttle forward, tilting his nose down so the fighter would begin to drop altitude, aiming to be only a hundred feet or so above the water. This would make his fighter a lot harder to actually hit, as well as the anti-ship missile he had just armed. As he watched, a second pair of rounds ripped into the fleet, pulverizing a smaller frigate and cleaving a container ship in half. He ripped over the fleet, right between the columns of smoke caused by the enemy fire. Just after passing the fleet, the system managed to lock on to one of the enemy ships. Judging by the RADAR screen, it was several small skiffs, a single super tanker and two frigates. He had already began locking on to one of the frigates. As soon as he got the lock tone, he depressed the button on top of the yoke, a slight jolt marking the weapon deploying. "Tower, got two destroyers, one container ship, and a bunch of skiffs, engaging one destroyer, how copy?"

"Solid copy Tiger, AWACs reports four unknown's moving to your location from bearing one two five. E.T.A., two mikes. Break engagement and stand by for the rest of Razor flight, how copy?" he cursed to himself before keying his radio, simultaneously peeling away from the enemy ships, the missile striking the unprepared destroyer amid ship, tearing a massive hole in the side of the ship and causing it to slowly roll to port.

"Negative, tower, they could do some serious damage before back up gets here. I'm going run interference. Over." The unknowns were already on his RADAR screen, the Heads Up Display built into his flight helmet already placing green squares over the distant specs. He quickly disarmed his one remaining anti-ship missile, arming the twin air to air missiles that were stored on the tips of his wings. Normally, an F18 could double the number of missiles his was equipped with, but on a long range combat patrol such as this, they stayed lightly armed, leading to lower weight, more speed, more maneuverability, and longer range. It didn't take long before he was in range, a solid lock tone ringing through the cockpit as the lead plane's box turned red. Just as he fired, his master alarm rang out, announcing an enemy missile lock. "Fuck!" as soon as his missile was clear of him, he rolled right and pitched, keeping the throttle maxed as he was now violently pressed against his seat. he could feel the blood in his head begin to be pushed down in his body, the edges of his vision turning black as he suddenly stopped pitching, rolling to his left until he was upside down and pitched again, followed by another roll and pitch, barely managing to pull up before slamming into the water. The missile had closed the distance in that time, but was moving too fast to recover from the drop in altitude, slamming into the water. Meanwhile, one of the fighters was spiraling out of control, trailing flame, two of the others were vectoring down on the fleet, while the last one was trying to angle itself behind him. he ignored the one behind him, heading straight for the other two. "Tower splash one bogey."

"Good copy Tiger, Razor 1-3 is two mikes out. Hang in there." He barely payed attention to Tower's response, quickly locking on to one of the fighters, firing the missile as soon as he got a lock. That fighter peeled off, likely trying to shake the missile as it did so. He ignored it, racing after the other plane. It dropped a pair of bombs, both detonating on one of the residential superstructures. Without thinking, he lined up the circular crosshair on a point ahead of the enemy fighter, depressing the trigger for a second. The craft vibrated as the cannon built into the nose fired. The short burst of fire dumped almost eighty rounds from the magazine, and amazingly enough, almost every tracer hit the enemy jet, causing it to spiral out of control and slam into one of the ships below, setting it ablaze.

"Damn it! Splash another, impacted on civilian fleet, say again, impacted on civilian fleet, need aid and rescue on scene ASAP!" he started to peel away from the fleet, his master alarm going off again as another missile was fired at him. one glance at his RADAR showed a small white line now racing after him.

"Hey Tiger, need a hand?" he heard the female voice over the radio, unable to help but breath a sigh of relief at it.

"Hell yeah Katana! Still got two bogey's and I'm dry on AA. Think you can bag em?" he quickly rolled and turned before suddenly reversing, creating an almost S-shaped flight path as he spoke. the missile didn't try to maneuver to follow him through each turn, seeming to actually predict where he was going instead of just tracking him. _shit, is that one of the new P-AAM's? how the hell do they even have that kind of tech!_ a P-AAM, or Predictive Air to Air Missile, used a low grade artificial intelligence built into the fighters firing systems to control the missile, much like the older RADAR guided SAM's.

"I got a P-AAM on me! Need a hand!" he quickly pitched up, trying to gain some altitude before ramming the throttle back, letting the craft stall out. _Please work!_ As the plane slowed and began to fall, it keeled back, letting him look up and see the white streak of the missile heading straight for him. Before he could react, the missile struck near the rear of the craft, blasting the engines and elevators apart. "Mayday Mayday mayday! Catastrophic damage, I gotta bail!" he waited a split second, waiting for the canopy to be facing the horizon before he yanked on the yellow and black ejection handle, praying the seat actually worked. Several loud pops announced the canopy being blown off, followed by him being slammed into the seat, it ripping away from the now doomed plane. But he knew no more, a chunk of debris striking his helmet as he left the plane.

* * *

Ledo clenched his jaw, unable to tear his eyes from where Amy was lying on the cot before him. despite the amount of activity around him as more injured were found and brought to this makeshift aid station. He wanted desperately to remove her from here, to take her back to her home, but the doctor had insisted they didn't move her yet. He had one of her hands tightly in his own, just hoping it let her know he was there. There was a groan behind him, and he glanced back to see the downed pilot they had brought in hours ago slowly sitting up, the sheet covering his bare torso sliding down. his body was much paler than most on Gargantia, granted, it was far from how Ledo was when he first arrived, but he did not have the heavy tan most of the people Ledo had encountered had. His black hair was a sharp contrast to Ledo's white hair, not that you could see much of it with the white bandages wrapped around his head. His eyes were an emerald green, almost matching the color of the ocean. He seemed to look around for a moment, seeing the flurry of activity around him, just before slumping back on the cot.

"Damn it, first fight and I already got myself splashed." Ledo let go of Amy's hand, gently setting it back beside her before spinning on his stool

"Who are you?" his eyes opened again, looking up and down Ledo's abnormally thin frame. Ledo was extremely thin by earth standards, having spent most of his life as a soldier in space.

"Ensign Tyler Chance, MDF Navy Air Corps. You?" Ledo's attention was instantly grabbed by him having a rank.

"Former Ensign Ledo of the Galatic Army of Mankind. What is the MDF?" he grunted, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Maritime Defense Force. We protect anyone and everyone who want's to just live peacefully on the ocean. you were a soldier?" he looked confused, Ledo about to respond when a near explosion of noise drew both of their attentions.

"Ty! You're alright!" the man beside Ledo tried to shield himself to no avail as a woman with long black hair and almond colored skin almost flew from the doorway to him, instantly hugging him. her clothing was peculiar to Ledo, a dark grey set of coveralls covered in what looked like air bags and an equipment harness, a black pistol holster over her breasts.

"Shit Eva, I'm fine! How'd you even get here!?" she slipped off the bed as Ledo silently watched, very curious as to what was going on now, as most of the people in the room now were.

"Ahem, Ensign Naga, please act in a more professional manner while on duty." She snapped to attention at the older gentlman's voice, the man on the cot sitting upright in an instant, his right hand completely straight and flat with his forearm as he touched his index finger to his eyebrow.

"Admiral Jacobs sir!" the older gentlemen who had just stepped in wearing a clean grey uniform, it's straight crisp lines clashing with his salt and pepper hair and aging features simply returned the younger mans gesture, Ledo noticing Fleet Commander Ridget right behind him.

"It's good to see you made it Ensign Chance. And in answer to your question, our fleet was already on it's way to meet with this one, we just arrived via Seahawk a few minutes ago. Welcome aboard the Gargantia. Now that I've seen that my pilot is okay, may we retire to your office and discuss a potential arrangement between our fleets, Fleet Commander?" Fleet commander Bridget had become the commander just two years ago, and she wasn't even twenty-five yet. But, despite her young age, she had proven to be an incredible leader.

"In a moment, I would like to check on some of my people first." He nodded to her as Bridget moved straight toward Ledo. "How is Amy doing Ledo?" he glanced at the still motionless girl, wanting nothing more than for her to wake up at that instant.

"She has not woken up. The doctor had to stitch her wound closed." Bridget nodded before turning back to the door, stepping out without another word. He didn't blame her though. The row's of fresh body bags were hard for even him to see.

"Ensign Naga, stay here with your wingmen. Once we have the fires under control and other wounded stabilized, we'll extract the two of you." She nodded to the admiral, about to open her mouth to respond, but the admiral continued. "And Ensign Chance? Good flying out there today. We've gotten eyes on one of the planes you were fighting. Eighth generation jets, VTOL capable, inertial compensators. It's a miracle you were able to take them down in a fourth gen fighter." Ledo noticed the shocked glance between the two pilots, just before they both saluted, the admiral returning it before stepping out after the fleet commander.

* * *

Admiral Jacobs politely accepted the seat the young woman before him offered, unable to help but find himself curious as to how someone so young had become a fleet commander in the first place. Her office was quite welcoming, a single elaborate wood desk, with a large metal construction which showed an incredibly accurate layout of the fleet, created from meticulously created pieces of metal with lights glowing at all of the interlocking points. To his left was a fairly large porthole, looking out over the water. He could easily see his own fleet through this porthole, the early morning light illuminating an array of well over three dozen ships, from his massive flagship, The M.D.F.S. Lexington, a massive super carrier, three battleships almost equal in size, the Missouri, Solace, and Meridian, the third of those ships being vastly different than the previous two. the first two were refitted and upgraded ancient ships from the bottom of the ocean, just like his flagship. The third had been entirely constructed, like roughly a third of his fleet. It was much sleeker in design than it's older sisters, with angular armor designed to deflect incoming shells, the central control area being much shorter, as well as having an open back with a landing pad for VTOL's and helicopters. It had three massive turrets, one tri barrel and one twin barrel to the front, the tri barrel sitting ahead and lower than the twin, and a single tri barrel on the rear, vs the other two ships three tri barreled turrets. The rest of the fleet was a similar hodgepodge of ships, some sleek and angular like the Meridian, some being more like the much older Missouri and Solace, both being ancient Iowa class battleships, some ships being something of a step in between. But all of them looked in much better condition than the Gargantia fleet, not a single spot of rust visible on them.

"Well, Admiral, what brings your heavily armed fleet here?" there were strong notes of distrust in the young woman's, soft, yet surprisingly commanding voice. She had mid length dark hair, well groomed and held away from her face by a pair of braids, tied into a bow behind her head, with a pair of square glasses over her green eyes. She wore a gold embroidered violet uniform that fit her curves extremely well, with a matching skirt, not that he could see that now, given she had sat down behind her desk.

"We came to welcome you into the Maritime Defense Force's waters, and to make an offer for an arrangement." She glanced out the window at his fleet, likely realizing that her own defensive fleet was less than half the size, and possessed only a single heavy cruiser, as heavily modified as the brilliant red ship was. At this range, his fleet could sink the entire Gargantia fleet in ten minutes flat, should it so choose

"Then what is this arrangement you came to offer." He smiled to her, hoping to calm the woman, who if anything, looked even more cautious of him now.

"I would simply like to station a single ship and some personnel to your fleet to help in your fleets defense. All we ask in return is that you share food and provisions with our vessel, as well as allow it's crew to take R & R on your ships. in addition to this, we would like you to allow our nation's merchant ships to trade with you. In addition to the one destroyer stationed with you, we will give the means to contact any of our ships in the area for assistance should something come up. The MDF Navy's entire purpose is to protect those who live on this ocean, and nothing more." She remained quiet as he spoke, glancing out the window again.

"And what if we refuse?" the Admiral smiled to her in the most comforting way he could.

"We would still give you the means to communicate with us, and leave you be after that" she nodded, seeming to relax a little after he said that. Which actually was surprising to him. most fleets stayed extremely guarded and cautious with them for months after first contact was made. Then again, most hadn't just been attacked by high end aircraft either.

"I would like some time to confer with my captain's council before I come to a final decision. In the meantime, tell me more about these ships that attacked us today, and what you can even do to protect us from them." he sighed, running a hand through his greying hair. As much as he didn't want to admit it, he wasn't sure how to protect their fleet from them himself.

"you were attacked today by a faction we only started to encounter about a year ago. they have incredibly advanced ships and technology, on par with our own in fact. They are known for attacking fleets and sinking them, salvaging them from the bottom of the ocean afterwards. Normally, we would leave you an entire contingent of ships, but this new faction has made it a priority to have every ship we can hunting for them. as for immediate defenses against them, our destroyers are equipped with a single long ranged rail cannon, ultra long range missiles and several VTOL aircraft, both fighter craft and attack helicopters. In addition to those assets, they have anti-missile and anti-air assets on board, as well as long range surveillance capabilities. In time, we can share our technology and tactics with your fleet, as well as provide you with anti-air and other defensive countermeasures, as well as trade their munitions with you for scrap or other commodities." She nodded after he finished, almost immediately speaking again.

"That seems quite generous of you. and a moment ago, you said 'our nation's', are you from one of the continents?" the continents were very thin strips of land that remained from the before the planet froze, and are the only regions not flooded by the ocean. but, they were low on fertile territory, and as such, those who lived on them were constantly at war, making life on the sea far safer and more peaceful.

"We call our selves a nation, given we are comprised of several fleets working together." _Actually, a little more solid than that._ He fought the urge to disclose the full truth with her on that topic, very few fleets ever being told of the MDF's true origin, even fewer being allowed near it. almost two centuries before, the MDF's predecessor had discovered a series of small, steep islands, spending decades leveling and expanding their size until they were capable of supporting life. Now, they had several dozen square kilometers of fertile land, split between two large islands, with a third being currently enlarged. These islands were incredibly hard to reach, the ocean currents around them being strong enough at times to pull ships under, as well as more peaks hiding just under the waves that used to destroy ships attempting to pass through the area. Nowadays, a fleet of ships known as the Pickett fleet surrounded this natural barrier, turning ships and fleets away from the danger, and in turn, away from their home. This fleet was comprised of almost exclusively destroyers and frigates, the only two cruisers and only battleship in the fleet only being assigned to it to defend the carrier attached to it. Several safe routes had been charted through those turbulent waters, the main route being where the Defense fleet was stationed, it's primary mission to protect the islands themselves. It contained the majority of the MDF's battleships and cruisers, nine battleships making the main contingent of that fleet, protecting a specialized carrier that had been built by combining two severely damaged carriers together, doubling it's aircraft capacity. They also acted as the hub for the civilian merchant fleet, although, very few foreign ships were allowed to trade directly with the Hub, for security reasons. This left the offensive fleet, which he commanded. This fleet of nearly seventy ships was the main visible force for the MDF, most of the fleet spread between escorting civilian fleets, or set in small roving flotilla's, actively searching for pirates and other threats.

"To be more precise, we are comprised of four major fleets, Defense, Offense, Picket, and Merchant. The defense fleet protects our merchant fleet and home Hub, the picket fleet is stationed around the ocean near hazards and to act as an early warning system, the merchant fleet should be quite self explanatory, and finally, my own offensive fleet. We are the muscle behind our nation, reaching out to new fleets for the merchant fleet, providing protection for our neighboring fleets, and hunting down any large threats to those who live on these oceans." She nodded to him, seeming to let herself be lost in thought for several minutes.

"That is quite open of you to admit that. I believe we would be interested in this arrangement you have offered, so long as your people follow our laws aboard our ships. I would also like to get my council's opinion before I make any decision as large as this." the Admiral couldn't help but relax a little as she said that, smiling to her.

"That is more than reasonable. I will begin making arrangements on my end. I will be leaving you with a single Zummalt class destroyer, two VTOL capable fighter craft, although, be advised, the Zummalt can only have one fighter ready to deploy. If at all possible, I would set aside a place large enough to deploy one of the fighters from on your fleet. The same goes for the four attack helicopters that will be stationed with you as well. At this time, the ship will be the _Courageous_. I would also like to formally thank you for saving my pilot." She returned his smile, extending her hand to shake his as they both stood.

"It was the least we could do. I will send a runner to your Seahawk, I believe you called it, once I have a final answer for you. it's been a pleasure Admiral." He accepted her handshake as she spoke, not even letting a second of hesitation show.

"Likewise, Fleet Commander." With that, he stepped from her office, donning his hat and moving back toward the container ship his helicopter had set down on.

* * *

Amy slowly became aware of a deep throb coming from her hairline, instinctively reaching up to touch the source of the pain as a small moan slipped from her mouth.

"Saaya, Ledo! Amy's awake!" she barely recognized her friends voice, something about it being different than she could place. _And who is Ledo? I don't remember a Ledo…._ She let her eyes slide open, seeing a much older Melty than she remembered, more filled out and feminine than she could remember, even though she was dressed quite the same as she always did. Saaya had come rushing over, wearing an apron and gloves over her hands, both covered with red blots that looked almost like blood. Although she was still the slightly plump girl Amy had always known, she now had her long black hair up in a tight bun, and was wearing a nurses uniform. right behind her was an almost painfully thin boy with a shock of white hair. He also seemed much paler than he should be, and Amy could not help but feel that he was somehow familiar to her. he was near instantly at her side, reaching for her hand when she instinctively shied away.

"W-Who are you?!" he looked at her in shock, frozen in place for a moment, his eyes wide. He really wasn't bad looking, thin as he was. He was wearing a green short sleeve collared shirt with a pair of breast pockets with a leather equipment belt and blue jeans, clearly some kind of engineer or scavenger. And he had clearly been near an explosion at some point, his clothes ripped in several places.

"A-Amy?" his voice was very quiet, almost a whisper in fact, and almost foreign in a way, as if he wasn't speaking his original language. And he sounded utterly terrified and confused. The pain hidden in that expression instantly caused her to start to panic, having not intended at all to hurt anyone.

"Melty, Saaya, who is this, what's going on?!" she started to shimmy back against the cold wall, putting some distance between herself and the boy while also sitting up, her eyes made a mad dash around the room as the smell of blood and smoke started to assault her nose, the body bags and injured all around her starting to terrify her.

"Whoa there Amy, calm down…. the fleet was attacked last night. You were hit in the head by debris during the attack, knocked out. How are you feeling right now?" Saaya's surprisingly calm voice instantly drew her attention.

"I… my head hurts but I think I'm okay. Who is this?" she gestured toward the boy as she spoke, seeing a tear slip out of one of his eyes. Melty and Saaya both exchanged a shocked and worried glance before Melty began to speak.

"This is Ledo. You've known him for two and a half years now…." she glanced between the two of them, feeling utterly confused. She was opening her mouth to respond when the sound of steel sliding on steel startled her, looking over to see a pair of identically dressed adults, a man and a woman. The man had a hand gun in his hand, the slide still held back as he stared at their startled expressions, and the funky pistol the boy was slowly putting back in a holster.

"Jumpy much, shesh. Come on Eva, lets go." He released the slide on the handgun before slipping it into a holster on his chest and stepping out, the white bandage over his head clashing with the dark uniform.

"Who were they? I've never seen them before…." Amy had seen almost everyone in the fleet at this point in her life, or so she reckoned, given her work as a mail runner.

"They are Pilot's with a group called the Maritime Defense Force. They saved a lot of lives during the attack." The boy was the one speaking, Amy's eyes naturally dropping to the leather holster, curious about the weapon he carried, having never seen anything like it.

"Did you talk to them Ledo?" he nodded curtly to Melty's question, Amy realizing that he had shifted closer during the incident with the pistol, almost placing himself between her and the two strangers. "So, um, Amy, what's the last thing you remember?" she glanced between the trio, seeing almost identical expressions on their faces, all intensely watching her with small glints of hope in their eyes. She sighed, trying to think back as best as she could, but it seemed to make her head hurt even worse.

"I… remember getting up really early to check out this strange yumboro Bellows had brought up, but that's it…" she gave up after she spoke, her headache having intensified tenfold just by trying to think.

"You don't remember me at all…" she heard the defeated tone to his voice, instantly wanting to comfort him, but not really knowing how.

"What do you mean? What's happened?" she was finding herself panicking again as her two friends exchanged a shocked glance, the boy simply turning and heading for the door, disappearing without a word.

"That day you remember, that was the day you met Ledo. He was in that Yumboro. That was two and half years ago Amy." Now it was her turn to give them a shocked expression, a million questions instantly lighting up in her mind.


End file.
